Disclaimer: Wow, I'm actually using one of these. It's given that I don't have any ownership of Advance Wars or the characters of Final Fantasy... Duh. But the characters Glenn, Brad, Aldrea, Ashley, and Cecil, are used from "Bahamut & the Guardian Forces" by the permission of Gregory Stephen/nightdragon0. So you know, you should go read it, you would enjoy it.
Author's Notes in Such: Man, I took a long vacation... To tell you the truth, I was stuck for awhile. Too many ways to take the story, but this will do. So enjoy.
-Advance Wars 2
--Project Black Portal
---Chapter 8: Lightning
The array was working full time now, and soon the weather affects began to come inland. This was very apparent for Jess and her forces. The red headed CO sat in the passenger side of one of the trucks as their forces moved along the wet Green Earth countryside to go blow a bridge that was making enemy movements a snap. The green tank divisions trudged through the near flooded roads while the vehicles with tires sloshed after them.
Jess moved back the sleeve of her green uniform to reveal a watch and squinted at it through the darkness of the truck cab. She didn't like how they were progressing and turned to the driver next to her.
"Hand me the radio." She ordered.
The soldier nodded and grabbed the radio off the dashboard handing it to her. The Green Earth soldiers had tall helmets that did a good job of covering their eyes and went well with the long green trench coats. Jess clicked it on and looked out through the darkness of the storm.
"Attention all units, we need to hurry it up here. That bridge is going to be supporting a division of Neotanks soon. With our air force grounded and our navy drowning, we can't afford to fail this mission."
Once she had ended her call, the tanks up front began to quicken their pace and sent small waves rolling across the roads as their treads broke the water. Every second of the storm didn't feel right, her gut instinct told her that much already. Coupled with the rather sketchy reports of new Black Hole bioweapons, she began to try and ready herself for anything and everything that might happen.
"Commander, we have visual of the bridge." The lead tank reported.
Jess radioed back an affirmative and glared harder out into the dark storm. She could see it now, the running lights that ran along the barriers of the bridge. The strange Black Hole bridge wasn't a typical bridge. It was a rusty red color, and looked like a half pipe. Metal grating made up a lot of the bridge's makeup, while lights ran along the edges and center of the bridge. It spanned a small gap of water that was part of the ocean. If the bridge was blown sky high, it would take Black Hole weeks to redirect forces.
The Green Earth tanks reached the bridge first and rolled up to it's edge. The gunner took out night vision goggles and gazed out across it. There was negative visual on any enemies, which means they had beaten the Neotank divisions. It wasn't long until the troop transports pulled up, and demolition teams began to leap down from the back. Jess hopped out of one of the trucks with a long trench coat on.
"Alright!" She yelled out over the storm. "Wire this thing from top to bottom! We need to make it disappear under the water!"
Green Earth soldiers began to scramble across the strange, half-pipe bridge. There was audible squeaking sounds as the soldier's boots moved along the metal. Two of the tanks began to move along the bridge as well, ready to provide any cover fire. The operation continued to move about smoothly, right up to the point where they were done with their demolition charges and began to clear the bridge.
"We're all done here ma'am!" The captain reported.
"Right, let's do it." She nodded.
Everyone began to line up at the end of the bridge, ready to watch it buckle and then plunge into the water. One of the gunners took out his goggles and prepared to watch the fireworks... But something caught his attention. It was easy to see even if you weren't using binoculars. A white glow began to cross from Black Hole's side.
"Uh... Ma'am!" The gunner yelled out.
Jess turned away from the demolition team long enough to see what the gunner was talking about and quickly spun back towards her soldiers.
"Hold on!" She yelled. "What is that? What's on the bridge?"
"It's not Black Hole ma'am! It's uh... uh... horse?" The soldier reported, almost not believing himself. "No wait... a unicorn!?"
Jess climbed up the side of the tank and took the NV Goggles from the gunner and took a look herself. Indeed it was Unicorn, limping across the bridge showing clearly she had been wounded.
"Damn!" Jess cursed. "It looks like it just escaped a massacre..."
"What about the bridge ma'am? You said yourself..."
"I know what I said!" Jess responded quickly. "But if that's what I think it is... We need to get it across! ASAP! You six are with me!"
Jess ran back to one of the trucks and hopped behind the wheel, of an empty truck. Her skills with vehicles on wheels made it easy for her to spin the truck around as the six soldiers she pointed out jumped into the back. Before most of her other forces had realized what happened, the truck was racing back across the bridge that was wired for demolition. The unicorn had stumbled a good distance across the bridge, such as if she were to turn back she would never out run the approaching Green Earth truck.
-------------------------
Unicorn stumbled across the bridge, she was exhausted and soaking wet. Her mane and tail clung to her body as she moved along the bridge. She had barely managed to get away from the tremendous Black Hole firing squad, and had been running ever since.
Please, let me walk for awhile. Aldrea pleaded.
As tired as Unicorn was, she refused and continued to walk.
"I would never put you at the mercy of a storm like this. The rain... it's like bullets..."
But you're exhausted. You're going to collapse out here.
"I can't stop. I can cover longer distances than you can... We need to find the others then..."
It was then she collapsed to the metal floor of the bridge and fell onto her side. She closed her eyes for a mere second and then shot them open again.
Unicorn!
She paused and then shook her head before getting back on her feet, not responding to her bonded partner. It was easy to see from her eyes that she was desperate for some kind of rest. The lights on the bridge began to blur together and seemed like it would never come back in focus. But the loud roar of a motor revived her senses and she could see a truck approaching. It's head lights were at it's full brightness and sped along at top speed. Unicorn squinted her eyes and lowered her head ready to fight.
"I don't believe this... Black Hole is everywhere..."
It can't be them there's no way...
The truck soon slammed on it's breaks and spun around until it was facing back the way it came. Soldiers began to pile out of the back of the truck with guns on their backs. They made no motion to use them and simply sprinted towards Unicorn. They began to slowly encircle her as she tried to keep her distance.
"Alright!" One yelled out. "Let's get it in the back quick!"
Several moved forward to get a hold of the GF but soon backed away as she began to swing her sharp horn around. This caused the soldiers to jump back to avoid getting impaled.
"Damn! Watch that horn!" Another soldier yelled.
Look out! Aldrea warned. The two right there!
Two of the green clad soldiers managed to latch onto Unicorn's mane but didn't last long as the stallion soon shook them free and sent them rolling.
"We don't have time for this crap! This bridge is wired to blow!" The captain reminded the other soldiers.
What? Aldrea exclaimed.
"They could be lying. But I'm not getting in that truck!"
Unicorn dodged another soldier and soon reared up on her back legs.
"I'm not going back to Black Hole!" She declared.
The soldiers glanced at each other nervously and then back to the truck.
"Uh... Ma'am! The unicorn just talked!"
-------------------------
Jess watched the scene unfold through the side review mirror. However tired and beaten the unicorn looked, it was obvious it had a lot more fight left to go. It wasn't long until Jess could tell that trying to force the unicorn into the back of the truck wasn't going to work. When she had heard it talk, it was all the proof she needed that this had something to do with Black Hole. She hopped out of the cab and rushed over to her soldiers waving her arms around.
"Stand down soldiers! Stand down!"
The Green Earth soldiers gladly backed away from Unicorn as their CO stepped forward slowly. She gave the white horse a hard look and then glanced to her watch.
"I'm CO Jess of Green Earth, we're going to blow this bridge up. So you either get in the back, or get blown up." She explained hurriedly. "I wish I could sound more friendly, but if we don't take care of this bridge soon, countless divisions of Neotanks are going to come rolling down this half pipe! We'll sort details later!"
The word Neotanks caught the interest of Unicorn who soon stepped back in disbelief.
"More of those walking monstrosities..." Unicorn uttered.
The conversation was soon cut short by static as Jess's radio lit up.
"Ma'am! Black Hole forces are approaching the opposite side! It's the Neotanks ma'am!"
Jess looked to Unicorn urgently and waved her soldiers back to the truck. Lighting began to strike the area and nail little posts on the bridge flooding the area with light for brief moments. It almost signaled the arrival of Black Hole who's motors began to overpower the sounds of the storm. There must have been dozens of tanks coming their way...
-------------------------
The lumbering Flak stood at the beginning of the bridge watching as his Neotanks soon approached. There was a rather large grin upon his face seeing how many he had and the rain failed to bother him. But his peace was soon interrupted.
"Lord Flak!" One of the hideous Black Hole soldiers reported. "There's something on the bridge."
"Huh? What you talkin' about worm?" Flak demanded.
The soldier removed a pair of binoculars and handed it to his CO. Flak juggled with it for awhile trying to find the right end before putting it up to his red goggles and gazed out to see the Green Earth truck and one of the GFs. His eyes widened as he spotted Unicorn on the bridge and his free hand began to ball into a fist.
"It's one of those freaks!" Flak roared. "This is great! Where's the recons? We're gonna crush it!"
"Recons? But sir, if Green Earth is here shouldn't we inspect the..."
The soldier couldn't say anything more as Flak's broad fist shattered his glass face mask and left him exposed to the atmosphere of Wars World. His eyes bulged as the alien air rushed into his suit. His hands shot up toward his throat as he made a series of sickening choking sounds. It was impossible for the Black Hole alien forces to breath such a thick atmosphere.
"Suck on some oxygen and tell me what you think later, worm! I'm gonna crush all those freaks if it's the last thing I do! Especially that bird thing! This is personal! "
It wasn't long until the soldier crumbled at Flak's feet and ceased to move. Flak gave a kick to make sure the insubordinate soldier was done for and looked back up. The high pitched wine of the lighting fast recons filled the air.
"I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna get all of you!" Flak vowed.
-------------------------
"Come on!" Jess ordered pointing toward the back of the truck.
There was a small flash and soon Unicorn stood there no longer, Aldrea now took her place and began to run toward a dumbfounded Jess.
"What the..."
"It's a long story!" Aldrea yelled. "I promise to explain later!"
Jess didn't need any more encouragement and pushed Aldrea in front of her. They soon got back to the cab and climbed in. Aldrea scrambled over to the passenger seat as Jess slammed the door and began to punch the gas pedal.
"I hope you're worth all this trouble!" Jess muttered. "We're gonna have to move like lightning to get out of this."
The truck began to speed back toward the side with the awaiting Green Earth tanks and rocket trucks. The lighting began to hit the area hard now and it seemed like the only things keeping metallic objects from getting fried was the lighting poles running along the sides of the bridge.
"Ma'am! We have four or five Black Hole recons in pursuit!" A soldier in the back reported.
"Today is just our day, isn't it... Take care of them!"
The recons made ground fast as they chased their rather bulky target. Aldrea leaned over towards the mirror and began to see the eerie red head lights of the vehicles chasing them. If it wasn't for that, they would look like shadows as they blended in perfectly with the dark storm. Then their turrets would open fire and light up the area. There was about four tailing them and getting closer by the second.
"How fast does this truck go?" Aldrea asked.
"Not fast enough to outrun Black Hole boxcars." Jess answered.
There was a crack as one of the bullets went right through the passenger window. Aldrea got low in her seat as Jess pulled to the right. One pulled along side the truck and swung it's turret toward the cab. It didn't get a chance to fire as Jess swerved the truck back over and rammed the recon sending it sliding up the half pipe wall. It ramped into the air and soon came back down ahead of the Green Earth truck. When it touched back on the half pipe it began to tumble over and over turning into a ball of twisted metal.
"Hey! Look out!" Aldrea pointed.
"I see it! I see it!"
Jess yanked the wheel quickly to dive in between the mess of rolling scrap and the deadly fragments that shot off of it. A round hub cap of sorts sawed off Jess's side mirror as the truck raced by. Two recons gracefully dodged the rolling recon carcass, but the third failed to react fast enough and swerved into it. It exploded on impact and went rolling up the other wall and into the ocean. After that, Jess realized slippery the bridge had become and soon found it hard to keep the truck straight.
The two remaining recons in pursuit continued to fire off rounds at the truck as some soldiers leaned out the back and returned fire as well. The AI of the recons were working over time to keep the vehicle moving forward in the rain and at the same time not flying off the edges. They weaved in and out sticking to their target as it began to slowly climb one of the walls threatening to fall over.
"Hey! We're going to tip over!" Aldrea warned.
"It's under control!" Jess assured her.
It was then the radio came on again.
"Ma'am! The Neotanks are beginning to move, where are you?"
Jess finally yanked the wheel a bit and sent the truck skidding across the bridge to the opposite side. It had straightened out and they could finally see the home stretch with a couple tanks waiting to greet them.
"I can see you, we'll be right there. Just hold on!" She paused to switch channels to the soldiers in the back. "You gentlemen back there might want to find something solid to hang onto."
The recons continued to fill the air with lead and shattered the driver side window. They automated gun trucks were now literally on top of them, ramming into the truck and firing off bursts of bullets right into the side.
"Buckle your seatbelt." Jess advised. "I'm about to use Overdrive."
Aldrea nodded and calmly put the belt on and held on to the dash not quite sure about what was going to happen. She soon heard her GF speaking to her, Unicorn still sounded tired and barely awake.
What's going on... Aldrea?
"I don't know." She told Unicorn. "I think we're about to go really fast..."
The two recons continued to ram the truck in an attempt to stop or blow it up altogether. Then a bright glow began to wash over the Green Earth vehicles and at that moment the truck shot off like a rocket leaving the two recons in the dust. Nothing could catch it as it made it's way further down the half pipe bridge. Jess maintained perfect control over it as it got it's boost. Aldrea in the passenger seat found herself thrown back into the seat.
-------------------------
The purpose of the bridge was much better known from the Black Hole side as the Neotanks began to scramble onto the bridge moving along at full speed. With two on the slanted walls and one in the middle, it was easy to put three of the behemoths side by side. First there was three, then nine, then eighteen as more and more piled on.
The recons skidded to a stop after losing their target and awaited for their orders to update. A Black Hole officer watched over the screens of data as the Neotanks began to cross in a strange flat nosed APC. The Green Earth truck had gotten away, and so had the unicorn for that matter. He soon left the APC and approached his commander.
"Lord Flak, the vehicle the recons pursued escaped... Overdrive sir."
Flak grumbled something but spun around.
"Ha! I doesn't matter what kind of crummy CO Powers Green Earth pulls, when my tanks get across I'm gonna stomp em'!"
-------------------------
Once Overdrive had been used, the truck sped past the two tanks and began to spin to a stop on the asphalt road. Jess leapt out of her truck and yelled out to the demolition team as the tanks pulled away from the bridge. The Black Hole Neotanks were now a good halfway across moving at a steady pace.
"Blow it now! Now!"
Aldrea stumbled out of the truck a little dazed from their speed boost and turned to the bridge. In one second, it was there stretching over the ocean to the opposite shore. Then in the next second it was going up in flames as the explosives rocked the support beams and caused the half pipe to collapse. The Neotanks screeched to a halt and did a full reverse once registering the explosives but it was too late. Although hardly damaged from the blasts, they soon disappeared under the ocean waves.
"Wow..." Aldrea whispered.
Nearly all the soldiers paused to watch the explosives as if fireworks were going off. One after another after another. There was a lot of bridge to destroy. Jess walked over to Aldrea and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her around.
"You said you had a long story to tell me, I believe this is the right time to start."
Aldrea had gone to say something but a fierce roaring could barely be heard in the distance.
"What's that?" She asked.
"Probably just the storm, here, we should probably get in the truck to talk."
"Again?" Aldrea asked sincerely.
The roaring wasn't part of the storm. Flak stood at the edge of the where the bridge had once been. All the Neotanks under his command had been swallowed up and disappeared within seconds. The Black Hole soldiers backed away as he yelled like a madman, almost never running out of breath.
"AAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!" Flak yelled in agony. "MY TANKS!!!!!"
He stomped about throwing his fists in the air.
"It's those freaks! They're making me look bad!" Flak paused to glance towards the sea as another realization dawned upon him. "Hawke is gonna be really pissed! And Sturm is gonna... Sturm is...."
The mention of Sturm's name made Flak go silent and he soon trudged off, walking away from the ruined bridge and his sea bound Neotanks.
-End Chapter
--Next Chapter: Four Reunited, One to Go
Author's Notes in Such: Man, I took a long vacation... To tell you the truth, I was stuck for awhile. Too many ways to take the story, but this will do. So enjoy.
-Advance Wars 2
--Project Black Portal
---Chapter 8: Lightning
The array was working full time now, and soon the weather affects began to come inland. This was very apparent for Jess and her forces. The red headed CO sat in the passenger side of one of the trucks as their forces moved along the wet Green Earth countryside to go blow a bridge that was making enemy movements a snap. The green tank divisions trudged through the near flooded roads while the vehicles with tires sloshed after them.
Jess moved back the sleeve of her green uniform to reveal a watch and squinted at it through the darkness of the truck cab. She didn't like how they were progressing and turned to the driver next to her.
"Hand me the radio." She ordered.
The soldier nodded and grabbed the radio off the dashboard handing it to her. The Green Earth soldiers had tall helmets that did a good job of covering their eyes and went well with the long green trench coats. Jess clicked it on and looked out through the darkness of the storm.
"Attention all units, we need to hurry it up here. That bridge is going to be supporting a division of Neotanks soon. With our air force grounded and our navy drowning, we can't afford to fail this mission."
Once she had ended her call, the tanks up front began to quicken their pace and sent small waves rolling across the roads as their treads broke the water. Every second of the storm didn't feel right, her gut instinct told her that much already. Coupled with the rather sketchy reports of new Black Hole bioweapons, she began to try and ready herself for anything and everything that might happen.
"Commander, we have visual of the bridge." The lead tank reported.
Jess radioed back an affirmative and glared harder out into the dark storm. She could see it now, the running lights that ran along the barriers of the bridge. The strange Black Hole bridge wasn't a typical bridge. It was a rusty red color, and looked like a half pipe. Metal grating made up a lot of the bridge's makeup, while lights ran along the edges and center of the bridge. It spanned a small gap of water that was part of the ocean. If the bridge was blown sky high, it would take Black Hole weeks to redirect forces.
The Green Earth tanks reached the bridge first and rolled up to it's edge. The gunner took out night vision goggles and gazed out across it. There was negative visual on any enemies, which means they had beaten the Neotank divisions. It wasn't long until the troop transports pulled up, and demolition teams began to leap down from the back. Jess hopped out of one of the trucks with a long trench coat on.
"Alright!" She yelled out over the storm. "Wire this thing from top to bottom! We need to make it disappear under the water!"
Green Earth soldiers began to scramble across the strange, half-pipe bridge. There was audible squeaking sounds as the soldier's boots moved along the metal. Two of the tanks began to move along the bridge as well, ready to provide any cover fire. The operation continued to move about smoothly, right up to the point where they were done with their demolition charges and began to clear the bridge.
"We're all done here ma'am!" The captain reported.
"Right, let's do it." She nodded.
Everyone began to line up at the end of the bridge, ready to watch it buckle and then plunge into the water. One of the gunners took out his goggles and prepared to watch the fireworks... But something caught his attention. It was easy to see even if you weren't using binoculars. A white glow began to cross from Black Hole's side.
"Uh... Ma'am!" The gunner yelled out.
Jess turned away from the demolition team long enough to see what the gunner was talking about and quickly spun back towards her soldiers.
"Hold on!" She yelled. "What is that? What's on the bridge?"
"It's not Black Hole ma'am! It's uh... uh... horse?" The soldier reported, almost not believing himself. "No wait... a unicorn!?"
Jess climbed up the side of the tank and took the NV Goggles from the gunner and took a look herself. Indeed it was Unicorn, limping across the bridge showing clearly she had been wounded.
"Damn!" Jess cursed. "It looks like it just escaped a massacre..."
"What about the bridge ma'am? You said yourself..."
"I know what I said!" Jess responded quickly. "But if that's what I think it is... We need to get it across! ASAP! You six are with me!"
Jess ran back to one of the trucks and hopped behind the wheel, of an empty truck. Her skills with vehicles on wheels made it easy for her to spin the truck around as the six soldiers she pointed out jumped into the back. Before most of her other forces had realized what happened, the truck was racing back across the bridge that was wired for demolition. The unicorn had stumbled a good distance across the bridge, such as if she were to turn back she would never out run the approaching Green Earth truck.
-------------------------
Unicorn stumbled across the bridge, she was exhausted and soaking wet. Her mane and tail clung to her body as she moved along the bridge. She had barely managed to get away from the tremendous Black Hole firing squad, and had been running ever since.
Please, let me walk for awhile. Aldrea pleaded.
As tired as Unicorn was, she refused and continued to walk.
"I would never put you at the mercy of a storm like this. The rain... it's like bullets..."
But you're exhausted. You're going to collapse out here.
"I can't stop. I can cover longer distances than you can... We need to find the others then..."
It was then she collapsed to the metal floor of the bridge and fell onto her side. She closed her eyes for a mere second and then shot them open again.
Unicorn!
She paused and then shook her head before getting back on her feet, not responding to her bonded partner. It was easy to see from her eyes that she was desperate for some kind of rest. The lights on the bridge began to blur together and seemed like it would never come back in focus. But the loud roar of a motor revived her senses and she could see a truck approaching. It's head lights were at it's full brightness and sped along at top speed. Unicorn squinted her eyes and lowered her head ready to fight.
"I don't believe this... Black Hole is everywhere..."
It can't be them there's no way...
The truck soon slammed on it's breaks and spun around until it was facing back the way it came. Soldiers began to pile out of the back of the truck with guns on their backs. They made no motion to use them and simply sprinted towards Unicorn. They began to slowly encircle her as she tried to keep her distance.
"Alright!" One yelled out. "Let's get it in the back quick!"
Several moved forward to get a hold of the GF but soon backed away as she began to swing her sharp horn around. This caused the soldiers to jump back to avoid getting impaled.
"Damn! Watch that horn!" Another soldier yelled.
Look out! Aldrea warned. The two right there!
Two of the green clad soldiers managed to latch onto Unicorn's mane but didn't last long as the stallion soon shook them free and sent them rolling.
"We don't have time for this crap! This bridge is wired to blow!" The captain reminded the other soldiers.
What? Aldrea exclaimed.
"They could be lying. But I'm not getting in that truck!"
Unicorn dodged another soldier and soon reared up on her back legs.
"I'm not going back to Black Hole!" She declared.
The soldiers glanced at each other nervously and then back to the truck.
"Uh... Ma'am! The unicorn just talked!"
-------------------------
Jess watched the scene unfold through the side review mirror. However tired and beaten the unicorn looked, it was obvious it had a lot more fight left to go. It wasn't long until Jess could tell that trying to force the unicorn into the back of the truck wasn't going to work. When she had heard it talk, it was all the proof she needed that this had something to do with Black Hole. She hopped out of the cab and rushed over to her soldiers waving her arms around.
"Stand down soldiers! Stand down!"
The Green Earth soldiers gladly backed away from Unicorn as their CO stepped forward slowly. She gave the white horse a hard look and then glanced to her watch.
"I'm CO Jess of Green Earth, we're going to blow this bridge up. So you either get in the back, or get blown up." She explained hurriedly. "I wish I could sound more friendly, but if we don't take care of this bridge soon, countless divisions of Neotanks are going to come rolling down this half pipe! We'll sort details later!"
The word Neotanks caught the interest of Unicorn who soon stepped back in disbelief.
"More of those walking monstrosities..." Unicorn uttered.
The conversation was soon cut short by static as Jess's radio lit up.
"Ma'am! Black Hole forces are approaching the opposite side! It's the Neotanks ma'am!"
Jess looked to Unicorn urgently and waved her soldiers back to the truck. Lighting began to strike the area and nail little posts on the bridge flooding the area with light for brief moments. It almost signaled the arrival of Black Hole who's motors began to overpower the sounds of the storm. There must have been dozens of tanks coming their way...
-------------------------
The lumbering Flak stood at the beginning of the bridge watching as his Neotanks soon approached. There was a rather large grin upon his face seeing how many he had and the rain failed to bother him. But his peace was soon interrupted.
"Lord Flak!" One of the hideous Black Hole soldiers reported. "There's something on the bridge."
"Huh? What you talkin' about worm?" Flak demanded.
The soldier removed a pair of binoculars and handed it to his CO. Flak juggled with it for awhile trying to find the right end before putting it up to his red goggles and gazed out to see the Green Earth truck and one of the GFs. His eyes widened as he spotted Unicorn on the bridge and his free hand began to ball into a fist.
"It's one of those freaks!" Flak roared. "This is great! Where's the recons? We're gonna crush it!"
"Recons? But sir, if Green Earth is here shouldn't we inspect the..."
The soldier couldn't say anything more as Flak's broad fist shattered his glass face mask and left him exposed to the atmosphere of Wars World. His eyes bulged as the alien air rushed into his suit. His hands shot up toward his throat as he made a series of sickening choking sounds. It was impossible for the Black Hole alien forces to breath such a thick atmosphere.
"Suck on some oxygen and tell me what you think later, worm! I'm gonna crush all those freaks if it's the last thing I do! Especially that bird thing! This is personal! "
It wasn't long until the soldier crumbled at Flak's feet and ceased to move. Flak gave a kick to make sure the insubordinate soldier was done for and looked back up. The high pitched wine of the lighting fast recons filled the air.
"I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna get all of you!" Flak vowed.
-------------------------
"Come on!" Jess ordered pointing toward the back of the truck.
There was a small flash and soon Unicorn stood there no longer, Aldrea now took her place and began to run toward a dumbfounded Jess.
"What the..."
"It's a long story!" Aldrea yelled. "I promise to explain later!"
Jess didn't need any more encouragement and pushed Aldrea in front of her. They soon got back to the cab and climbed in. Aldrea scrambled over to the passenger seat as Jess slammed the door and began to punch the gas pedal.
"I hope you're worth all this trouble!" Jess muttered. "We're gonna have to move like lightning to get out of this."
The truck began to speed back toward the side with the awaiting Green Earth tanks and rocket trucks. The lighting began to hit the area hard now and it seemed like the only things keeping metallic objects from getting fried was the lighting poles running along the sides of the bridge.
"Ma'am! We have four or five Black Hole recons in pursuit!" A soldier in the back reported.
"Today is just our day, isn't it... Take care of them!"
The recons made ground fast as they chased their rather bulky target. Aldrea leaned over towards the mirror and began to see the eerie red head lights of the vehicles chasing them. If it wasn't for that, they would look like shadows as they blended in perfectly with the dark storm. Then their turrets would open fire and light up the area. There was about four tailing them and getting closer by the second.
"How fast does this truck go?" Aldrea asked.
"Not fast enough to outrun Black Hole boxcars." Jess answered.
There was a crack as one of the bullets went right through the passenger window. Aldrea got low in her seat as Jess pulled to the right. One pulled along side the truck and swung it's turret toward the cab. It didn't get a chance to fire as Jess swerved the truck back over and rammed the recon sending it sliding up the half pipe wall. It ramped into the air and soon came back down ahead of the Green Earth truck. When it touched back on the half pipe it began to tumble over and over turning into a ball of twisted metal.
"Hey! Look out!" Aldrea pointed.
"I see it! I see it!"
Jess yanked the wheel quickly to dive in between the mess of rolling scrap and the deadly fragments that shot off of it. A round hub cap of sorts sawed off Jess's side mirror as the truck raced by. Two recons gracefully dodged the rolling recon carcass, but the third failed to react fast enough and swerved into it. It exploded on impact and went rolling up the other wall and into the ocean. After that, Jess realized slippery the bridge had become and soon found it hard to keep the truck straight.
The two remaining recons in pursuit continued to fire off rounds at the truck as some soldiers leaned out the back and returned fire as well. The AI of the recons were working over time to keep the vehicle moving forward in the rain and at the same time not flying off the edges. They weaved in and out sticking to their target as it began to slowly climb one of the walls threatening to fall over.
"Hey! We're going to tip over!" Aldrea warned.
"It's under control!" Jess assured her.
It was then the radio came on again.
"Ma'am! The Neotanks are beginning to move, where are you?"
Jess finally yanked the wheel a bit and sent the truck skidding across the bridge to the opposite side. It had straightened out and they could finally see the home stretch with a couple tanks waiting to greet them.
"I can see you, we'll be right there. Just hold on!" She paused to switch channels to the soldiers in the back. "You gentlemen back there might want to find something solid to hang onto."
The recons continued to fill the air with lead and shattered the driver side window. They automated gun trucks were now literally on top of them, ramming into the truck and firing off bursts of bullets right into the side.
"Buckle your seatbelt." Jess advised. "I'm about to use Overdrive."
Aldrea nodded and calmly put the belt on and held on to the dash not quite sure about what was going to happen. She soon heard her GF speaking to her, Unicorn still sounded tired and barely awake.
What's going on... Aldrea?
"I don't know." She told Unicorn. "I think we're about to go really fast..."
The two recons continued to ram the truck in an attempt to stop or blow it up altogether. Then a bright glow began to wash over the Green Earth vehicles and at that moment the truck shot off like a rocket leaving the two recons in the dust. Nothing could catch it as it made it's way further down the half pipe bridge. Jess maintained perfect control over it as it got it's boost. Aldrea in the passenger seat found herself thrown back into the seat.
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The purpose of the bridge was much better known from the Black Hole side as the Neotanks began to scramble onto the bridge moving along at full speed. With two on the slanted walls and one in the middle, it was easy to put three of the behemoths side by side. First there was three, then nine, then eighteen as more and more piled on.
The recons skidded to a stop after losing their target and awaited for their orders to update. A Black Hole officer watched over the screens of data as the Neotanks began to cross in a strange flat nosed APC. The Green Earth truck had gotten away, and so had the unicorn for that matter. He soon left the APC and approached his commander.
"Lord Flak, the vehicle the recons pursued escaped... Overdrive sir."
Flak grumbled something but spun around.
"Ha! I doesn't matter what kind of crummy CO Powers Green Earth pulls, when my tanks get across I'm gonna stomp em'!"
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Once Overdrive had been used, the truck sped past the two tanks and began to spin to a stop on the asphalt road. Jess leapt out of her truck and yelled out to the demolition team as the tanks pulled away from the bridge. The Black Hole Neotanks were now a good halfway across moving at a steady pace.
"Blow it now! Now!"
Aldrea stumbled out of the truck a little dazed from their speed boost and turned to the bridge. In one second, it was there stretching over the ocean to the opposite shore. Then in the next second it was going up in flames as the explosives rocked the support beams and caused the half pipe to collapse. The Neotanks screeched to a halt and did a full reverse once registering the explosives but it was too late. Although hardly damaged from the blasts, they soon disappeared under the ocean waves.
"Wow..." Aldrea whispered.
Nearly all the soldiers paused to watch the explosives as if fireworks were going off. One after another after another. There was a lot of bridge to destroy. Jess walked over to Aldrea and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her around.
"You said you had a long story to tell me, I believe this is the right time to start."
Aldrea had gone to say something but a fierce roaring could barely be heard in the distance.
"What's that?" She asked.
"Probably just the storm, here, we should probably get in the truck to talk."
"Again?" Aldrea asked sincerely.
The roaring wasn't part of the storm. Flak stood at the edge of the where the bridge had once been. All the Neotanks under his command had been swallowed up and disappeared within seconds. The Black Hole soldiers backed away as he yelled like a madman, almost never running out of breath.
"AAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!" Flak yelled in agony. "MY TANKS!!!!!"
He stomped about throwing his fists in the air.
"It's those freaks! They're making me look bad!" Flak paused to glance towards the sea as another realization dawned upon him. "Hawke is gonna be really pissed! And Sturm is gonna... Sturm is...."
The mention of Sturm's name made Flak go silent and he soon trudged off, walking away from the ruined bridge and his sea bound Neotanks.
-End Chapter
--Next Chapter: Four Reunited, One to Go